low attendance and admissions apart from incomplete repair and maintenance works marked the first day of Government schools that reopened for the new academic session on Monday.
Owing to the incessant rains, attendance of students remained very low in the schools here. Jitendra Shakya, a teacher at Habibiya Higher Secondary School told, “Only handful of students appeared on the first day of the new academic session, although all the teachers were present to observe pravesh utsav, as the first day new session is called in the State.”
Even the number of children coming for fresh admission in Class I was low. Jitendra informed that only five students were enroled on first day. District Education Officer CM Upadhyay said that the process of enrolments is an ongoing process.
“The School Chale Hum campaign of the Government has been taken up by the department and we will track children who are not enroled in any school to get them admitted. We are aiming to get 100 per cent enrolment of out of school children,” Upadhyay said.
State capital has been identified as one of the least performing districts by the Rajya Shiksha Kendra (RSK) in terms of tracking, enrolment and retention of out of school children. In the recent report card released by the RSK, Bhopal was awarded four out of 10 marks in terms of monitoring and enrolment of out of school children. Even the repairs and maintenance work of schools especially in the rural areas have not been completed. District Project Coordinator RK Pandey informed that a proposal for grant of nearly `70 lakh has been sent by the school education department to the Central Government for repair and maintenance works in the schools.